The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "developmentally disabled" ...
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Broken Shield
Decades ago, California created a special police force to patrol exclusively at its five state developmental centers – taxpayer-funded institutions where patients with severe autism and cerebral palsy have been beaten, tortured and raped by staff members. But California Watch found that this state force, the Office of Protective Services, does an abysmal job bringing perpetrators to justice. Reporter Ryan Gabrielson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, exposed the depths of the abuse inside these developmental centers while showing how sworn officers and detectives wait too long to start investigations, fail to collect evidence and ignore key witnesses – leading to an alarming inability to solve crimes inflicted upon some of society’s most vulnerable citizens. Dozens of women were sexually assaulted inside state centers, but police investigators didn’t order “rape kits” to collect evidence, a standard law enforcement tool. Police waited so long to investigate one sexual assault that the staff janitor accused of rape fled the country, leaving behind a pregnant patient incapable of caring for a child. The police force’s inaction also allowed abusive caregivers to continue molesting patients – even after the department had evidence that could have stopped future assaults. Many of the victims chronicled by California Watch are so disabled they cannot utter a word. Gabrielson gave them a resounding voice. Our Broken Shield series prompted far-reaching change, including a criminal investigation, staff retraining and new laws – all intended to bring greater safeguards and accountability.
Tags: California; police; autism; cerebral palsy; abuse; children
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Abused & Used
The series focused on the treatment and care of the developmentally disabled in New York state, which spend far more than any other state on the developmentally disabled. The series comes nearly four decades after abuses were uncovered at Willowbrook, a state facility on Staten Island, a scandal that touched off a wave of deinstitutionalization nationwide.
Tags: developmentally disabled; new york; new york state; abuse; willowbrook; institutionalized
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Forced to Fight
The original story documents how a remote facility for foster children with developmental disabilities forced to fight each other for the staff's entertainment, then rewarded the winners with snacks. The subsequent stories exposed a history of abuse and neglect at the facility.
Tags: neglect; foster care; developmental disabilities; Dystar Residential
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Money Pit/ Money Maker: Developmental Centers and the Medicaid Match
The series found that New York has kept open poorly run institutions for the developmentally disabled because it's Medicaid reimbursement rate is so lucrative. Residents are kept in locked beds in prison-like conditions though most are not convicted criminals.
Tags: disabled; institutions; developmentally disabled; locked beds; Medicaid
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Mental Disorder: The Failure of Reform
The series examined each major failure of an eight-year effort to reform North Carolina's mental health system. Among others, the investigation found the state wasted $400 million on ineffective or unneeded services and at least 82 patients in state mental health hospitals and homes for the developmentally disabled had died of homicide, suicide, accidents or medical errors.
Tags: mental disability; hospital; North Carolina; mental health; patient; reform; medical care; health policy
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I Didn't Do That Murder; New Light On Old Case
Based on questions reporter Christine Young raised in her reporting of a 1987 murder conviction, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, in a rare decision, is re-investigating the murder case of Michaelanne Hall, a prostitute brutally murdered in 1989. The man convicted for the crime, Lebrew Jones, was a mentally retarded security guard and his conviction rested on a nonsensical statement he gave to police. Now 51, Jones is awaiting DNA test results from the fingernail clippings of the murder victim. Also, a potentially viable suspect has emerged as a result of Young's work.
Tags: wrongful conviction; Manhattan medical examiner's office; prostitution; runaways; murder; DNA testing; Innocence Project; developmentally disabled
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Mental Disorder: The Failure of Reform
Until the News and Observer published "Mental Disorder," most North Carolinians had no idea that their state mental health system was a disaster. The five-part series examined each major failure of an 8-year reform effort. Major findings included that the sate had wasted at least $400 million on services that were ineffective or unneeded and various cases of money mismanagement. They also found that at least 82 patients in state mental health hospitals and homes for the developmentally disabled had died of homicide, suicide, accidents or medical errors. In dozens of cases, hospital officials had covered up the true circumstances of the deaths by falsifying records and telling family members the patients had died of natural causes.
Tags: mental health; developmentally disabled citizens; North Carolina; mental health reform; mental health hospitals; patient rights; patient abuse; patient neglect
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Broken Homes
The state of California created "a community care system for its developmentally disabled residents that is managed and operated by private entities," which moved residents of state-run institutions into these care homes. But "owned and operated by people with few qualifications, the system is dangerous, and even deadly, for the people it is supposed to protect." And often, the state has done little to check the system and ensure that people in need receive the proper care. The Tribune examines individual cases, including a mother who lost her adoptive son when his medical emergency was mishandled and a care home that housed a sex offender who allegedly abused another resident while living there.
Tags: special-needs care; developmentally disabled; misdiagnosis; lax medical care
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Public Protection, Private Abuse
This series revealed how a costly state-funded program for dangerous developmentally disabled adults called the Community Protection Program is putting its own clients at risk of abuse and neglect in the name of protecting the public. The state is paying private residential companies to provide 24-hour supervision of 381 clients at an average annual cost of $93,000 per person while providing little oversight of how public dollars are spent.
Tags: abuse; neglect; Community Protection Program; developmentally disabled; corruption
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Sexual assault at Mifflin High School
When news first broke that a developmentally disabled girl said she had been sexually assaulted in a high-school auditorium, it seemed to be the story of a tragic crime. But digging by Bill Bush and other Dispatch reporters revealed a much more troubling story--school officials had resisted calling police because they feared that would attract attention of the media. Further reporting found critics suggesting that this was a pattern within Columbus Public Schools.
Tags: Columbus Public Schools; sexual abuse; sexual assault; Mifflin High School